Words (WAS: RE: [MUD-Dev] MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?)

[kennerly at finegamedesign.com]

Zach Collins wrote:
> On Sat, 17 Jul 2004, David Kennerly wrote:

>> A game has points and players, whose behavior correlates, to some
>> degree, to their points.  Any world that has points and
>> participants, whose behavior is influenced by these points, is
>> also, at least in part, a game.  A persistent world is an
>> infinite game, in that it has an infinite duration with a score
>> that remains for indeterminate duration.  Therefore, MMPs meet
>> the criteria of both games and worlds.  What is wrong with the
>> marriage: MMP = World + Game?

> While I agree with much of your argument, I find myself objecting
> mildly to your terminology.  "MMP" is expanded to "Massively
> MultiPlayer", right? Your use of MMP with constant reference to it
> as a game makes the assumption that MMP products have to be games.

I don't like "massively multiplayer," but "shopping mall" is already
taken.  :)

yYou make an excellent point: my term is biased.  MMP conceals the
word "player" in it.  Much besides MMPs get discussed here.  I
confess that I have no a priori definition of MMP.  By MMP, I mean
basically any of these and their kin:

  Achaea, Asheron's Call, A Tale in the Desert, Chronos, City of
  Heroes, Dark Age of Camelot, Dark Ages, Elancia, EverQuest, Final
  Fantasy XI, The Kingdom of the Winds, Lineage, Mabinogi,
  Meridian59, MU, Priston Tale, Puzzle Pirates, Ragnarok Online,
  SecondLife, Shattered Galaxy, Toontown, Ultima Online, Underlight,
  and their taxonomic siblings.

So you see my bias.

My preferred term seems to change with the season.  This summer I
like MUD; honestly.  "MUD" is truly abstract.  But I try to select
the most unbiased term out of the subset of commonly known terms.
"MUD," to most of the world outside this list, means "text MUD."
Interestingly, MUD retained its general meaning longer in Korea than
in the US.  I still have an old Korean poster subtitled in English:
"The Kingdom of the Winds: Graphic MUD Game."

David
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